"Peter Stöger can bring the team together once more"

"It doesn't need to be any more! I would have come for just a couple of weeks", asserted Peter Stöger, who had travelled from Vienna early this morning. He spoke of a "surprising situation" when he received the call late on Saturday evening from Borussia Dortmund, "but also an extraordinary opportunity for me. I'm really looking forward to serving as manager of the team in this stadium. It is something special. I'll approach the whole thing with much pleasure and plenty of emotion. You only get such a chance once in a lifetime." Hans-Joachim Watzke: "We are grateful that he was able to help us spontaneously and work with us until the end of the season."

Standing at Stöger's side are longstanding co-trainer Manfred Schmid and Jörg Heinrich, who won the UEFA Champions League with Borussia Dortmund 20 years ago. BVB's incumbent athletic and goalkeeper trainers, Andreas Beck and Florian Wangler, as well as Wolfgang de Beer and Matthias Kleinsteiber, complete the training staff.

Before Peter Stöger's appointment, there had been late on Saturday evening an "emotional and dignified conversation" with Peter Bosz, reported Hans-Joachim Watzke, at the end of which "the termination of his contract with immediate effect" was decided on. Watzke: "Peter Bosz accepted the decision with much grace and thanked us for the confidence that we had placed in him. We still regard him as a top manager, and above anything else, a fantastic human being. The way we worked together was excellent. We part on the best possible terms."

Under Bosz's management across the first seven games of the league this season, Borussia Dortmund collected 19 of a possible 21 points. From the following eight matches, however, only three points were won, meaning the team fell from first position in the table to seventh, with today's fixtures on matchday 15 still to be played. Borussia Dortmund are also out of the UEFA Champions League, notwithstanding the stiff competition they faced in the group stage, namely, defending champions Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur. In the DFB Cup, the team are in the round of 16 after two clear victories, and play against FC Bayern Munich next in the competition on 20 December.

"It's a very mixed picture", said Sporting Director Michael Zorc of the way in which the season has gone so far: "At some point, something happened to the team psychologically. We can't explain it." Zorc also stressed his high regard for Peter Bosz, and that "the decision was really difficult for us to make. But we have not managed to turn things around. For that reason, the decision was unavoidable."

Peter Stöger is his successor. The 51 year-old managed 1. FC Cologne from 2013 to 3 December 2017. He got the team promoted in his first season to the 1. Bundesliga, and also got them back into European competition after a 25 year absence. The Austrian won two championships with Austria Wien, either as manager or sporting director (2006 and 2013), as well as two cups (2005 and 2006).

Stöger has now just two training sessions, one on Sunday and one Monday, to prepare his team for the league match on Tuesday evening away at 1. FSV Mainz 05. "During this time it will be important to speak with the boys to find out what the problems are. No one expects the team to be the finished article by Tuesday", said Stöger, who spoke of wanting to "put back together the small pieces of mosaic".

Watzke described the congested fixture list of two league games and a cup game in the coming days as "not easy, but ambitious" and added: "Our first priority is to have picked up points by Christmas."

With Stöger at the helm, the turnaround should transpire in the second half of the season at the latest. "He continuously developed 1. FC Cologne. The team demonstrated great stability. That is what we are missing at the present moment", stressed Michael Zorc: "Peter can bring the team together once more where there is confusion."
Boris Rupert

BVB total!-Video: Peter Stöger's introductory press conference